1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to self watering planters.
2. Description of the Related Art
Live plants are commonly provided in homes, offices and the like to provide a more aesthetically pleasing environment and also to help naturally filter the air. A long-standing problem, however, arises from the need to properly water the plants. Traditionally, each plant is individually watered as needed by pouring water directly into the soil of the planter containing the plant. In offices, retail establishments, and the like, professional water service personnel are often employed to water and otherwise maintain the plants. The frequency with which the plants need to be watered depends greatly however upon the type of plant, the ambient temperature, and the amount of light in the vicinity of the plant. As a result of these and other factors, some plants need to be watered once per day, others once per week, others perhaps less frequently. This places a considerable burden on the service personnel which must ensure that each plant is properly watered. As such, costs associated with watering and otherwise maintaining the plants can be substantial, particularly for large office complexes, shopping malls, and the like.
To minimize the frequency by which plants need to be watered, a variety of self-watering planters have been developed over the years. A self-watering planter is provided with a water reservoir connected to a planter for containing a plant such that the planter can draw water from the reservoir as needed by the plant. In this manner, water need not be added to the soil of the planter whenever the soil becomes dry. Rather, as the plant withdraws water from the soil, water is automatically drawn from the water supply into the soil to replenish soil moisture. The frequency by which the reservoir needs to be replenished is often significantly less than the frequency with which the soil would otherwise need to be directly watered if a self-watering planter were not provided. Accordingly, substantial cost savings are achieved as a result of reduction in time required by plant service personnel. Moreover, there is less chance that a plant will become stressed or die as a result of failure to properly and periodically water the plant.
A typical self-watering planter includes a planter portion and a water reservoir integrally formed as a single unit, Flow holes are formed in a base of the planter to permit roots to grow into the water supply portion. The planter further includes a conduit extending upwardly from the reservoir to near a top of the planter to permit the reservoir to be replenished as needed merely by pouring water into a top opening of the conduit. The planter and reservoir are mounted in an external enclosure. Self-watering planters of this type have been effective in reducing the need to frequently water plants, however, considerable room for improvement remains. A first problem associated with self-watering planters of this type is that the integrated self-watering planter can be considerably more expensive than conventional planters. Also, unless the manufacturer provides a set of self-watering planters of many different sizes, shapes and the like, the customer is limited in the choice of plant sizes thereby limiting the desirability of the self-watering planters. Indeed, it may be difficult to find the appropriate container size and shape for particular plants to satisfy the needs of the customer. As one example, some retail establishments, hotels and the like prefer to have very large planters on the order of six feet tall to accommodate trees, bamboo or the like. The cost associated with providing integrated self-watering planters to accommodate such unique requirements may be prohibitive.
Yet another problem associated with integrated self-watering planters arises if the planter needs to be removed from its outer enclosure, perhaps to identify or correct a mechanical failure in the planter or perhaps because some form of plant failure has occurred and the plant itself needs to be replaced. With the planter and the water reservoir integrally formed, the entire assembly may be extremely heavy and awkward to remove from its outer enclosure, particularly if the reservoir is still substantially filled with water. Accordingly, considerable time and effort may be required by plant service personnel to remove the planter from its outer enclosure, thereby increasing associated costs. As can be appreciated, considerable difficulty may occur if a self-watering planter on the order of six feet tall needs to be removed from an external enclosure. Another problem associated with some conventional integrated self-watering planters is that roots of the plant can grow directly into the water reservoir resulting in possible over watering, root rot, clogging problems, or the like.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an improved self-watering planter which overcomes the many disadvantages of the planters thus far described which have a water reservoir integrally formed with a planter. One possible solution is to provide a planter/water reservoir assembly wherein the planter and water reservoir are not integrally formed, but are adapted to mount one to the other. Although this configuration makes it easier to remove the self-watering planter from an external enclosure, problems associated with root rot or plant over watering caused by roots directly growing into the water reservoir are not addressed. Also, if the planter needs to be removed from the water reservoir, soil and other debris often falls through the flow holes of the base of the planter resulting in possible damage to carpets and the like surrounding the planter.
One alternative self-watering planter that has been proposed includes a planter connected to a water reservoir via a capillary system. Water is absorbed from the reservoir by capillary material and ultimately fed into soil of the planter thereby moistening the soil. Heretofore, an ideal capillary material has yet to be identified. In some cases, the capillary material does not provide for a sufficiently fast flow of water to properly water a plant, particularly a large plant located in a sunny or hot area. Also, certain capillary materials have been found to decay rather quickly when immersed in water such that the usable lifetime of the material is minimal. In many cases, the capillary material being used is either too expensive or insufficiently moldable to permit the fabrication of an inexpensive self-watering planter.
Conventionally, the capillary material is positioned to abut a base portion of the planter such that soil or roots within flow holes of the planter lie adjacent to a portion of the capillary material. However, adequate coupling between the capillary material and the soil or roots is often not achieved. For example, if a gap remains between the soil of the planter and the capillary material, water may not be properly drawn into the soil. Thus, although a self-watering planter employing a capillary material may represent an improvement over previous self-watering planters, considerable room for improvement remains. In particular, it would be desirable to provide a self-watering planter employing a capillary material wherein a more effective coupling of the capillary material to soil within the planter is achieved and wherein the risk of spillage of soil from within the planter through flow holes is substantially eliminated. It is also desirable that the self-watering planter have separate planter and water reservoir portions permitting ease of removal of the planter. It is also desirable that the self-watering planter accommodate entirely conventional planters and water reservoirs thereby reducing overall costs while permitting customers a wide variety of choice in components. It is to these ends that aspects of the present invention are primarily directed.